Flint Resident Seeks To Oust Mayor Amid Ongoing Water Crisis

Karen Weaver, the city's first woman mayor, is under fire for a trash removal contract amid the crisis.

Flint, Michigan Mayor Dr. Karen Weaver is under fire after a resident started a petition to remove her from office. Roland Martin spoke with the resident, Arthur Woodson, who explained why he’s leading the effort.

Woodson’s petition hopes to remove Weaver for the handling of a trash removal services contract costing millions. Two companies, Rizzo and Republic Services, were both collecting trash until September 2016 with the news that Rizzo officials were embroiled in a corruption scandal.

When Martin pressed Woodson, he revealed that while the petition focuses on the trash contract, it is actually a combination of issues largely related to the city’s water crisis that served as an impetus for the ouster.

Weaver, who was in the NewsOne Now studio, responded with, “First of all, I have a city to run and we have a water crisis but we still have a city to run. So when this took place, we didn’t have money yet to start the lead service line replacements. But I want to talk about this garbage contract because everything said was completely false. Everything was done according to the process. One of the things that had happened under the emergency manager, contracts were just signed and signed and signed, and so I said I was going to put it out [the garbage contract] for bid,” Weaver said.

Weaver said her primary concern was to save Flint taxpayers and additional costs while still combating the water issue and hit back at Woodson’s petition by saying she thinks the effort is “sad” and “tearing the city apart” instead of focusing on the pertinent issue of contaminated water.

Watch the discussion between Roland Martin, Mayor Dr. Karen Weaver, and Arthur Woodson on NewsOne Now in the clip above.